Nanostructured materials have many structural, electronic, and physical chemistry applications. Nanostructured materials are generally defined as materials that have at least one dimension less than 100 nm, and more typically a dimension that is less than 50 nm. Some authorities restrict the definition of nanostructures to materials having a least one dimension that is less than 30 nm. The smallest size that is used in reference to nanostructures is generally recognized to be approximately 0.2 nm. Materials having a dimension smaller than 0.2 nm are generally considered to be atomic/molecular-scale materials, not nanostructures. Of particular interest is the form of nanostructures called carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are tubular in shape where the wall of the tube is typically formed as a matrix of carbon atoms arranged in a replicated hexagonal pattern. Carbon nanotubes may be singled-walled or multi-walled. Single-walled carbon nanotubes have walls that are only one carbon atom thick. The diameter of single-walled carbon nanotube is typically about 1 nm. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes have walls formed as a plurality of layers of hexagonally-arranged carbon atoms. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes typically have a diameter that is on the order of a few nanometers. The ends of carbon nanotubes may be capped with a hemispherical pattern of carbon atoms like a buckminsterfullerene (“bucky—ball”). Carbon nanotubes may have lengths that are in the micron range, or even longer, which provides a material of extraordinarily large aspect ratio (ratio of length to diameter) compared with other basic material building blocks. Carbon nanotubes also have extremely high specific tensile strengths and extremely high specific elastic modulus values. Carbon nanotubes also have an electro-chemical affinity for certain atomic and molecular species. Because of these properties, carbon nanotubes have important prospective applications in such fields as high-performance mechanical materials, electronics, and chemical processing. However, despite over a decade of research, problems still exist with production methods for carbon nanotubes. As a consequence high quality carbon nanotubes are expensive. Furthermore, because carbon nanotubes are tiny by most standards, it is difficult to handle them and position them in desired application configurations. What are needed therefore are better methods of fabricating desirable configurations of carbon nanotubes that are less expensive and easier to adapt for consumer and industrial applications.